Sorry for the late update. :) I didn't know my dad had internet connections in HIS office (he was generously keeping the secret from me), so now I suppose it's much easier for me to update that it was a few days ago. Me slightly happier about that. :D
Lambie: Maki's cool. Just watched an episode of SD and saw him from a gorgeous angle. *eyes turn into heart shapes* Whoever said Mai left volleyball?
Kka: Sumo? I never watched one before. I better not, or I'll probably die from laughing. Mai's not that bad in dribbling, it's just when you ask her to dribble AND move at the same time that she panics.
Joy: Thanks! I received your uplifting e-mail. : ) Very sweet of you. I'll reply it.
Silhouette Panther: Thanks, Eddie-chan!
Shirodachi: Jin is nice, I suppose. Hey, guess what, I was sleeping yesterday and I got this idea for a Jin fic. Dunno when I'll be starting though. (as if five fics at one go isn't enough for lazy me to handle)
Alexia: Mai, show off volleyball skills? We'll see.
Fiery ice: Yes, 4 year olds can speak. My brother's around that age, and he can't stop yakkating nonsense at me. I think your idea about doing a fic for every player and then merging them into one side story is FANTABULOUS. I'll think about it. : ) Have fun with your cousins! I've never had so many come all at once before, and I have a HUGE family too. Let's just hope it doesn't happen to me. *prays*
Tensaispira: No, I don't play basketball, and I've only touched a volleyball twice in my entire life – usually in P.E. classes. Me no sportswoman, sorry. :P
Jo-sen7: Yeah, mai's not so wild because it's Maki. I dunno about you, but I don't dare do anything crazy in front of a guy like that. :]
Tiran: Okay, I admit I manipulate characters. That's what they're there for, rite?
Frozenfemale: Arigato!
Fer-chan: Thanks for reviewing, and sorry if I didn't upload as quickly as you wanted me to!
sLL: I know that Akane song – my friend made me listen to it's bakabakabakabaka chorus, and I was like: "Are you trying to tell me something here?" Ha ha! Thanks for your support!
Lazuli: Here's the rest of the story, lazuli-chan – well, the third chapter, that is.
Rei142: get this – I'll most probably be adding two new fics to that, so I'll be handling SEVEN fics. I think I'm going on a suicide mission or something. Thanks for knighting me, Sir/Lady Rei142! I shall honour the title bestowed upon me as best as I can! Ha ha!
Lady Artemis: I kind of pictured Maki as a serious, no-nonsense type of guy. It wouldn't suit him if I made him sweet, would it? So a jerky control freak he is! Ha ha!
Patty g: No, you don't have to move to the moon. Antartica is far enough. Thanks a lot, patty!
"Is it just me, or have you been improving?"
Mai half-frowned and half-smiled, her lips twitching and unsure of which direction to go, down or up. She lifted her eyes to Maki's and struggled not to hiss. Idiot. Of course she was improving. She had been practicing for two bloody hours EVERY DAY just dribbling, hadn't she? And missing out on two hours of soap operas at that too. "You're getting nicer and nicer everyday, Coach."
Maki grinned. "It takes a lot of effort."
Wiping the sweat on her forehead with the sleeves of her shirt, Mai sighed again as she felt the muscles in her hand protest.
Just then, Maki turned and yelled out loud to the far side of the gym, where Jin and Kiyota were helping out with the other girls. "What are you doing, Kiyota??" he boomed, with a line between his eyes. "Why on earth are you wrapped around Kimi?"
Kiyota quickly let his female apprentice go with a sheepish smile. "I was… just helping her make a shot." He gave his best charming smile. "Honest. And Kimi didn't mind, did you, darling?"
Beside him, Kimi blushed furiously and simply ignored his existence for dignity's sake.
Maki shook his head. "How can she shoot with you hovering around her like a mother hen? Jin, get that warped boy out of here."
Jin dutifully stopped in the middle of his three-pointer demonstration and tugged on Kiyota's earlobe. All business-like, he dragged the struggling boy out of the gym.
"You can't kick me out!" Kiyota was heard protesting outside. "You can't ground me! You're not my mother, Jin!"
"Of course I'm not," came the easy and serious reply. "If I was, I'd be dead by now. Now go do something useful for us. Why don't you be a good boy and buy us some drinks?" Jin's eyes glinted. "Do it for mummy, honey bun."
Mai was laughing hysterically at the commotion, along with the rest of the girls. Her hand wobbled and the basketball slipped out of her control. "What a treasure they are!" she exclaimed delightedly.
Maki chased after the ball and returned it to her. "Treasure? That's not the word I'll use to describe them."
Mai was still laughing. Eventually, she sighed with a fond look in Jin's direction, which made Maki's eyes narrow slightly. "The volleyball club doesn't have members like that," she said regretfully. "We're rather boring people." Then her eyes brightened thoughtfully. "I might start thinking about recruiting some jokers into the club."
"You wouldn't want to." Maki advised. "Trust me, you wouldn't want to. Your captain will go ape at the very sight of them."
Mai frowned. "Enrio doesn't go ape," she disagreed. "He just takes things calmly and fixes them. Of course, he gets stepped on every now and has certain radical ways of solving problems, but he's good and we're all fond of him." She gave him a sly look. "Are your members fond of you?"
"They'd better."
Mai laughed and started to dribble again. "The Volleyball Tournament has started," she informed conversationally. "We had a game last Friday. Won it, of course. I'm thinking we'll get as far as the semi-final, which is sometime around next, next Saturday. It'll be great to win the Cup again this year."
Maki checked her rhythm and then gave her a pointed look. "That's all very nice, but can you stop talking about volleyball now and concentrate?"
Mai stopped dribbling, just to irritate him. And because she was irritated herself. "I like talking about volleyball," she countered.
Maki closed his eyes patiently. "It's basketball at the moment, and I'd rather you don't muddle up those two together."
"I'm not stupid."
"I never said you were."
Mai straightened and wished she could match up to his height so she could at least be even a little bit intimidating. "You know something, Maki?" she asked dangerously.
"I know a lot of things, Mai, but you can tell me if you want."
She ignored that smart remark. "You're far too serious, and you expect too much."
He could see the beginning of a fight and resolved to take it in a calm manner. It usually made him triumph. "Why yes, I suppose I am serious. I wouldn't exactly be basketball captain if I was a laughing lunatic, would I? And yes, I expect too much, and I usually get it."
Now, if only she could come with retorts just as clever. "You should laugh every once in a while," she muttered. "Take in a joke, or even produce one. You'll look less like a bull if you did."
His eyes flashed. "Bull??"
"Oh, did I say bull? I meant frog."
"Frog??"
Mai smiled; clearly delighted that she'd finally got to him. "You don't like amphibians? You want birds? Fish? Reptilians?"
Maki gave her a cold stare. "Take your break." He walked away muttering to himself.
Snickering, Mai eagerly dashed up to retrieve her bottle and smiled cheerfully at Kikiro who was currently taking a break too. Kikiro clucked at her disapprovingly. "You shouldn't talk to Maki like that."
Mai's eyebrows rose at the prospect of being rebuked by her junior. But she flashed a smile, for world peace's sake. "Oh? How else am I supposed to talk then? In Greek?"
Kikiro looked furious at her frivolity. "No, with respect."
Ouch. Mai could feel her pride plummet down to earth. She couldn't remember the last time she was told off for being rude, but she was certainly sure it was someone her senior. She looked at Kikiro with a cool look. Maybe you should talk to me with respect too, hmm? "Maki and I are of the same age, Kikiro," she said calmly, though her hands itched to slap something. "I don't have to be so formal around him."
"He's the no. 1 basketball player in this district!" Kikiro sounded frustrated. "You can't just talk to him like he's … normal or something."
Mai decided Kikiro was one hell of a fan. "Even the president is normal," she resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I'm good in volleyball too, but I don't exactly expect people to drop down in front of me and kiss my feet." Though I certainly wouldn't mind it.
"Even other players from other districts say his name in whispers!"
"Why should I whisper when I can shout?"
Kikiro shook her head in despair, as if Mai was a disappointment to the nation. "Forget it," she muttered. "Some people just don't have respect for others."
Speak for yourself. Mai watched as Kikiro made her way for Jin to start another hour of practice. She's worse than my mother. And my grandmother, as a matter of fact. Come to think of it, my great grandmother wasn't so snippy either.
Fuming, she walked back to Maki for her own start-of-another-session, and patiently waited when he held up a hand and finished his water. "Are you Kikiro's brother?" she asked suddenly, still bothered by the girl's reproach.
Maki looked surprised. "Hell no. I'm not related to her." He raised an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"
Mai opened her mouth, then stopped and then opened it again. "Nothing. She just seems very protective of you."
Maki shrugged. "She's a nice girl."
"Oh?"
"Sends me letters and chocolates," he said with some amusement. "Probably hasn't realised yet that we're in the same building and that she could waltz up and talk to me any time she felt like it. And she's probably forgotten that I'm a guy, and that us guys prefer chewing-gums to chocolates."
The idea of girls sending him love letters and chocolates bothered her for some reason. How come I never thought of that?? Mai thought about it. Nah, too direct. Too embarrassing. Still irritated about it, she struck out at him. "Oh? So you're so used to getting letters and presents that you don't even know how to appreciate them?"
Maki stared at her. "Where did that come from?"
Mai realised she didn't know either.
"It's not that I don't appreciate it," Maki started, seemingly confused by the issue. "I just don't think they should waste so much on me, that's all. I mean, knowing girls, they'd have better things to spend on than frilly papers and chocolates, don't they? I can get chocolates for myself if I wanted them. There's no need to buy it for me."
Idiot, Mai decided. Can't even recognise a seduction even if it's in his nose. However, she was quite surprised at his explanation, and realised that he wasn't as self-indulged as she had thought he was. It made something inside her warm and fuzzy, for some obscure reason. That's something to think about.
"Why are we talking about this anyway?" Maki scoffed then. "We'll do ball-delivery now. You run around me and pass the ball."
Mai caught the ball he threw at her, but refused to end the discussion there. "Kikiro's in love with you, Maki," she said pointedly, her tone hovering between jealousy and concern. "So are half the female population in this school."
He looked at her steadily. "I know." There was a slight pause. "Now pass me the ball."
Mai's eyes bulged. "You know??" she flared. "Is that all you can say??" She marched up to him, reasserting her earlier opinion of him being a self-indulged jerk. "Listen Maki, girls are incredibly sensitive creatures. One wrong move on your part, and you'll have a dozen screaming and wailing broken-hearted girls around you."
He gave her a plaintive look. "Why are we talking about this?" he asked. "What does this has to with basketball?"
Mai looked up to the ceiling and shook her head. "Forget it."
"Good. Now pass me the ball."
She dribbled the ball for a few minutes, frowning. The casual, almost oblivious outlook that Maki had about breaking female hearts unsettled her. He probably has at least one girl crying into her pillows because of him every single day, she thought irritably, picturing a maiden up in a tower about to fling herself down for the loss of one true love who couldn't think further than an orange ball. And worse, he probably doesn't even care.
She whizzed around him in complicated movements and circles, passing the ball whenever she thought he was off-guard. He never failed to catch it, though.
Maki Shin-ichi, Mai concluded, was even more dangerous than she had suspected. Perhaps chasing after him with stupid, romantic ideas wasn't the best of notions. People with fragile hearts shouldn't try to bait someone like him. He'd probably break them without even realising it.
The image of the maiden on the tower came back, only this time; the maiden miraculously had Mai's face plastered on the head. Mai watched solemnly as the maiden with her face plunged down, clutching at the remains of her damaged heart, into her impending doom down on the grass.
Mai sighed forlornly.
It was time to raise the white flag.
Aww… the heroine is giving up on the hero!
*nothingtodo jumps to her feet waving a 'Don't quit, Mai!' banner over her head* Don't give up, Mai! I support you! *gathers supporters and goes tramping over town*